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As money gets harder to borrow and people start to get twitchy about investment, here are some things you can do to batten down the hatches and prepare to weather the storm.

1. Ditch the crap – focus on the 20% of your customers who give you 80% of your success. Ditch those that are vulnerable or give you grief.

2. Do what pays – look at the profitability of everything you do and park the things that don’t make anything. Focus on what’s profitable and popular.

3. Be different – Stop following the herd and be yourself. This will raise your profile and reduce your need for ‘scattergun’ marketing.

4. Value your time – you’re the most important person in your business. Only do what makes you money and delegate, dump or outsource the rest. (I know one business owner who spends hours cleaning his car – whilst a full valet only costs £50!)

5. Save energy – Everyone talks about energy costs, but think before you turn on the switch. I sat outside a bar the other evening. The air temperature was still 20 degrees yet they still had electric heaters on because they usually do. A thoughtless waste of money!

6. Skype more – It’s too easy to jump in the car and drive hours to a meeting. Meet half way; use the train and work on the way, or set up a Skype video-conference and save time, fuel and hassle.

7. Say no – When you’re popular and successful, everyone wants a piece of you. Learn to gently let down those who flatter you with demands for your time and attention – unless there’s an obvious benefit to you.

8. Pay overtime! – If you have staff and use temps to fill in extra shifts etc, look at paying your staff overtime and reducing the temp bill. You might find this is cheaper and will also help your team cope with rising prices themselves.

9. Try sandwiches – Lunching clients can be expensive. I recently enjoyed a super chat with someone who wanted to take me out. Instead of an expensive restaurant we bought sandwiches and sat in the sunshine in a local park. It was a refreshing change from silver service!

10. Share more – Get into the habit of sharing things with other firms. Offer to lend what you’re not using and see what you can borrow instead. You could even create an ‘equipment circle’ and collectively buy kit rather than each buy just for yourselves.

© Robert Ashton 2008